Tredyffrin Township to feature local artists

TREDYFFRIN — The township administration building will double as an art gallery when the township’s Artist of the Month series begins this week.

The open-ended exhibit will feature paintings from members of the Delaware Valley Art League, a locally based group of more than 200 artists.

“We were thinking of a way to highlight the talent in our organization as well as thanking our volunteers,” Delaware Valley Art League President Jeanne Gunther said. “We planned on doing it online until we could find a venue, but the township contacted us after someone saw our current exhibition at the Penn Medicine facility in Valley Forge. It was very serendipitous.”

Each month, two artists will display 10 paintings apiece in the community room at the township administration building. The works will be available for public purchase.

During the first two months of the exhibit, the featured artists will be Tredyffrin residents. September’s artwork will be from Ardyth Sobyak of Radnor and Ruth Detwiler of Wayne.

Sobyak, 73, got into painting two decades ago after she was stricken with cancer at age 50. The three years she spent dealing with the disease were path-altering for the then-real estate agent.

“The experience really changed my life, and I became an artist,” Sobyak said.

Early on, Sobyak decided to take classes at the Wayne Art Center, where the critique-based programs took her work to another level.

“Most of the people there were established artists and had an art degree, and then there was me,” Sobyak said. “I was pretty intimidated, but I just persevered because I wanted to do it. Then I painted a long time before joining the art league.”

Sobyak started out painting flowers, but her subjects broadened over time. Trees are among her favorites, and Jenkins Arboretum within the township provides plenty of inspiration.

In October, works from Ozzie DiSciullo of Chesterbrook and Angela Scully of Strafford will be on display.

Like Sobyak, the 82-year-old DiSciullo fully embraced his artistic side later in life.

“I’m a Depression-era child, and as a result, my parents told me I should take up a profession that paid well or gave me security for the future, and that I should forget the idea of going to art school,” DiSciullo said. “My first love was always art, but then I started working at a drug store and took an interest in pharmacy.”

DiSciullo enjoyed a long, prosperous career as a pharmacist, but when that chapter ended, another began.

“Once I retired, I really started doing all kinds of artwork.”

DiSciullo classified his painting interests as “sporadic” and said he is engaged in “reviving the Victorian era of landscapes with people gathering and picnic scenes.”

Both Sobyak and DiSciullo are excited for what the Artist of the Month series can do for the local art community.

“I think it’s fabulous,” Sobyak said. “We’ve been wanting to have something like this, and it gives artists a great opportunity to show their work locally and to get their name out there.”

Added DiSciullo, “I honestly believe that interest can be created in the eyes of the beholder, and the more shows we have, the more interest we’ll get. Art is inside all of us.”